Artifact Under Exam – Riding on the Coattails of History
Originally published in 2020 in the Surgeon’s Call, Volume 25, No.1
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Quite recently, Greg Kelly, an intern from the Museum Studies Program at George Washington University, and I had the opportunity to work together to catalog and stabilize a frock coat currently being housed in the Collections Room at the NMCWM. Karen Whitehair, Collections Manager, decided the coat was in need of an updated database record and storage solution. Being rather new to the museum, I was elated to have the opportunity to help with such a project. According to Museum records, the frock coat belonged to Louis D. Radzinsky, an Assistant Surgeon in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Over the course of a few weekends, Greg and I became intimately familiar with Radzinsky’s coat and ultimately the wearer himself. Under Karen’s careful supervision, Greg and I began the project by thoroughly analyzing and documenting the coat inside and out. After assigning quadrants for more detailed documentation, we got to work. For each quadrant, we noted areas of concern, recorded general measurements, took photographs, and reported what we found. Every hole was painstakingly noted, even ones too small to be measured. Evidence of fabric discoloration, missing buttons, and loose thread was documented as well. We noted everything down to the smell of the material, which Greg insisted had hints of body odor still clinging to the fabric. The purpose of gathering all this information was twofold: for us to gain experience in collections care and to track the condition of the coat to aid future collections stewards.
The frock coat of Assistant Surgeon Louis D. Radzinsky from the collection of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine
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